Monday, March 31, 2014

Hello everyone. March is nearly over and Spring should be just around the corner but we've had a brutal Winter up here in Canada and I think that this snow and cold weather will still be here for some time to come. Personally, I'm done with it. Let's get on with Spring already...

- Well, to at least think about some warmer weather (!) here's a nice piece from NPR recounting a drummer's study trip to Cuba:

This website is an overall great resource for all things related to the art of rudimental drumming and there's lots to learn and practice here!

- Last year, the Government of Alberta announced a series of budget cuts to education and, subsequently, Calgary's Mount Royal University cut it's ENTIRE fine arts program as a result (!) including it's long-time Jazz studies program. Retired Jazz bass instructor John Hyde recently wrote these wise words with regards to this tragic and stupid turn of events:

- Congratulations to recent Juno award winners Mike Downes, Christine Jensen, Mike Rud and Sienna Dahlen. These are all very hard-working and talented Canadian Jazz musicians. It's nice to see them all recognized for their work and, hey, they're all McGill graduates too!

- It was with great sadness that I learned that the great Al Harewood recently passed away.

I was first introduced to Al's swinging and musical drumming during the mid 1990s thanks to my drum teacher at McGill University, Chris McCann (if you haven't heard Stanley Turrentine's "Up at Minton's" RUN, don't walk to the nearest iTunes store lol and pick this one up!) I had the pleasure of interviewing Al over the phone over the course of three days for a project I was writing for Kevin Dean's performance practice course. I've got hours of our conversations together on cassette somewhere. He was very gracious with his time, sharing his life experience with me and he was flattered that I was even interested in what he did. Someday I'll dig up those cassette tapes and transcribe them.

Last I had heard, Al had been spending most of his retirement in Barbados and according to vocalist Cici Duke was a highly respected elder musician in the island community. I wasn't even sure if Al was even with us for the longest time so I was thrilled to hear that and then see that Mr. Al Harewood (or "Mr. Tip" as he was known in jazz drumming circles) had recently celebrated his 90th birthday in the company of the world's greatest jazz drummers at a party held at Don Sickler's loft (thanks to Billy Drummond for providing photos and an update a while ago.)

Ethan Iverson over his blog Do The Math wrote a very piece on Harewood over here:

Al Harewood was an incredible drummer who played with conviction, sensitivity and taste. He wasn't a flashy drummer or soloist by any means but he really did what needed to be done to make the music happen. As he reminded me during our interviews together: "Put the swing on top and you'll never go wrong!"

Friday, March 28, 2014

Here's a good one to mull over for the weekend ahead...some seriously swinging music from Oscar Peterson's trio (with Bobby Durham on drums and Sam Jones on bass!) featuring Dexter Gordon on tenor saxophone on "You Stepped Out of A Dream":

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

This led me to find some amazing clips of Clark playing and talking about some of his influences and interactions with many of jazz drumming's greats (see my previous post featuring Clark speaking about Tony Williams) as well as demonstrating his incredible technique, musicality and unique style to playing the drums.

Here's an excerpt of Mike from his new instructional series via mymusicmasterclass.com:

As Mike explains, he truly was a jazz drumming product of the 1960s in terms of his style and influences and a bebopper in addition to his immense contributions to funk drumming. Here he is talking about the influence of Elvin Jones:

And here Clark speaks to the great Papa Jo Jones:

Finally, from a masterclass at Drummers Collective in New York City, here's Mike Clark demonstrating some solo ideas over a 32-bar, AABA form:

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Here's a redux version of my previous lesson from a few weeks ago using Stick Control to come up with some interesting linear patterns using both your hands and feet....but this time with proper notation and some further explanations! Thanks for bearing with me here.

Here's a series of little variations on a Stick Control exercise I took from Steve Smith's excellent DVD "The Art of Playing Brushes" (with Adam Nussbaum). I believe that Steve originally got this one from his time studying with Alan Dawson in Boston. I've found this to be a great way to engage all my limbs at the same time and develop an overall sense of coordinated balance on the drum set.

Take the first few pages of Stick Control. Using a steady rhythm of eighth-notes as your rhythmic template, use these following variations as your guide to create some interesting linear ideas:

1) Exercise #1

Follow each Right and Left hand on the snare drum with the bass drum.

For example, a paradiddle sticking RLRR LRLL would look like this:

2) Example #2

Do the same as above but substitute the hi-hat (open or closed) instead of the bass drum.

A paradiddle sticking would then look like this:

3) Example #3

Following the same logic as above:

- When you play R with your Right Hand, follow it with the bass drum.

- When you play L with your Left Hand, follow it with the hi-hat (open or closed, your choice)

So a paradiddle sticking RLRR LRLL would look like this:

4) Exercise #4 (variation)

- When you play R with your Right Hand, follow it with the hi-hat (open or closed, your choice)

- When you play L with your Left Hand, follow it with the bass drum

So the following RLRR LRLL combination would look like this:

You'll find that you come up with some pretty interesting and challenging four-limb linear patterns as the sticking variations develop. Some of them are even reminiscent of some things you might hear Tony Williams play.

You might also want to try putting your hands on different parts of the drum set as well. This is what Exercise #3 would look like with the Right hand on the ride cymbal:

Friday, March 7, 2014

I'm going to be off the grid for awhile and hitting the beach here shortly, so check this one out until I return...

Here's some rare footage of the great Joe Harris with Sonny Rollins and Henry Grimes on bass to check out:

I've only really known Harris from his work with Dizzy Gillespie's big band but, as you can see here, he was equally comfortable in small groups as well and fits perfectly with Rollins' chord-less, trio configuration. Check out those creative, swinging fours between Harris and Rollins.

Monday, March 3, 2014

Welcome back everybody and welcome to March. I'm just returning from a very musically satisfying weekend of playing some very creative music with pianist/composer David Braid in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan but, man, it was really cold...

Here's what's making the rounds over here at the sufficiently heated Four on the Floor office today:

This is a blog about jazz, jazz drumming and all things unrelated. Thanks for stopping by!

A Bit About Me...

Jonathan McCaslin was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba and raised in Regina, Saskatchewan. Jonathan began playing the drums at the age of nine. He progressed through the Regina Lions Junior Band and the music program at his high school, Campbell Collegiate, soon developing a passion for playing the drums and jazz.Ultimately, Jon's interest in music led him to enroll in the Jazz Studies program at McGill University, graduating with distinction in 1999.

While at McGill Jon had the opportunity to study with some of the finest jazz educators in the country including Gordon Foote, Kevin Dean, Jan Jarcyzk, Chris McCann, Andre White, Michel Lambert and Dave Laing. He also attended the prestigious summer jazz workshop presented by the Banff Centre for the Arts in 1997, where he performed with Canadian jazz greats Hugh Fraser, Don Thompson and Kenny Wheeler.

In the spring of 2002 McCaslin completed his Master's in Jazz Studies at McGill University where he studied jazz drumming, improvisation and composition.

In January 2003 Jon released his debut CD, “McCallum’s Island”.Featuring his quintet, the CD contains an exciting collection of McCaslin’s original compositions, featuring himself and his band.The release of this CD was followed by a twenty-day tour of Western Canada, performing to enthusiastic, capacity audiences. During March of 2003 Jonathan was the recipient of a fellowship from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and attended the “Betty Carter Jazz Ahead” residency in Washington, D.C. Along with twenty other distinguished young jazz artists, McCaslin was featured with such jazz icons as Terence Blanchard, Carmen Lundy, Winard Harper, Curtis Fuller and John Clayton.

McCaslin’s quintet performed at the 2003 edition of the Montreal International Jazz Festival and was nominated for the General Motors Grand Prix du Festival (awarded to the most outstanding Canadian group). From 2004 until 2006, Jon toured North America, Asia and Europe with the high-energy, critically acclaimed music production troupe “Barrage”. Featuring a cast of seven world-class fiddlers and a four-piece band, this dynamic show featured high-energy music and fiddle traditions from around the world set to upbeat choreography and movement.

In 2015, Dr. McCaslin received his Doctorate through the University of Toronto and completed his dissertation on the conceptualization of contemporary melodic jazz drumming. He is currently based in Calgary, Alberta where he maintains a busy performing and teaching schedule across Canada.